Coconino National Forest Border, Otherside - 1:39 AM
I used Drop on the Loaner Sword as I reappeared behind Talafraxis. The blade scraped against the boss’ hard crystal body, scratching it but only barely. I adjusted my path to continue the attack onto one of his legs, which weren’t attached to his torso, but he took a step forward.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
The stats of the Loaner Sword of Coyote are changing. These are the updated values.
Strength: +10
Wisdom: +2
<<<>>>
The message only took up a fraction of my attention as I swung the weapon. My Strength did seem higher, which I was only able to gauge due to the sword being slightly lighter. I used Orbit, spinning once to build momentum before clashing with the Lord of Otherside’s shin as he turned to face me. The damage was more noticeable as the blade sank in before stopping. When I pulled it free, there wasn’t a dent on it.
An eye floating in Talafraxis’ foot glowed just before a beam of light erupted from it. My aura sight didn’t pick it up until the attack already started and I was struck in the hip. I could smell my skin burning by the time I put up Shield and dodged out of the way.
The eye beam followed me as the boss shifted. His arm, disconnected at both the shoulder and the elbow, shot towards me. I Lifted the Loaner Sword to block with support from the Staff of Raphael. It had been a long time since I had done this fight, and I needed to relearn how strong he actually was.
My knees buckled as he struck me. I couldn’t help but think again how the administrator skipped several levels in difficulty to make this guy.
The difference between us in Strength was massive and overwhelming, but I managed to knock the attack off course. A plume of dirt cascaded into the air, blocking the eye beam from striking me as it made a string of glass.
I didn’t have time to congratulate myself for surviving. While Talafraxis’ arm had impacted the ground beside me, his floating shoulder was coming down next like a hammer. Instead of taking this one or trying to stop it with a Force Field, I held the Loaner Sword to the side and activated Crash Test.
My feet pushed the sand out of the way as I headed between the boss’ legs. The Loaner Sword caught the giant crystal and, to my surprise, carried it along with us.
Behind me, Talafraxis didn’t shift or fall despite losing a leg that was a little bit taller than me. His arm returned to its position and he turned normally as if he wasn’t missing a part of his body.
“Why do you have knees but no elbows?” I asked, pulling the Loaner Sword free from the leg. I thought it was a sensible question.
There was no response. No roar of rage or frustration that I had his leg. A beam of light hit me in the side, and I backed off to see that an eye had floated into the boss’ missing limb. Jumping away, I swept the Loaner Sword against the ground, bringing up a cloud of sand to block the beam. The cloud lingered, hanging in the air for longer than I expected it to.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
The Patron [Coyote] says not like that, you have to draw a coyote!
<<<>>>
My eyes scanned the notice and I thought back to the strange sword I was using. One of the passives was Go For The Giant’s Legs, which was probably what allowed me to essentially kidnap a part of Talafraxis’ body. The skill From Clay To Life mentioned making animals, but it might not mean just clay.
It wasn’t like I could trust Coyote to be honest.
But I did trust him to want to have fun and be entertained.
Several of the eyes inside Talafraxis’ main body lit up. I dove behind a nearby crystal. It began turning to slag the moment the beams struck it, and the boss didn’t let up as he began running towards me, picking up his missing leg along the way. I wasn’t sure if he was out of teleports or simply didn’t want to use up a limited resource, but I appreciated the extra time.
The Loaner Sword was unwieldy for drawing, so I used the ferrule on the bottom of my Staff of Raphael. I drew quickly, sacrificing quality for speed. Looking around while I did, I Lifted two bushes out of the ground. The roots snapped as they rose, and I sent them careening towards Talafraxis.
His eye beams focused on the plants, but that only lit them on fire. Based on this and my hip, which was healing nicely, the ocular attacks seemed more suited for delivering damage over time than all at once. The last time I had fought the Lord of Otherside, I had done my best to avoid them since I never thought I’d be a part of this fight again.
The two flaming bushes continued to fly towards Talafraxis, and he put up his arms to defend himself. They impacted almost harmlessly, which was fine by me; they served their purpose.
I finished the poor drawing of a coyote in the sand. It started glowing. The ground began to shake, almost ruining my art, before an animal jumped out from between the lines I had made.
“Coyote is here!” the poorly drawn canine announced with a cackling laugh. It appeared to be made of clay despite having been drawn in sand, and it looked up at me with a cockeyed grin as it bounced. “I am here to help, amusing player! Point me in the direction of the bad guy!”
This wasn’t really the Patron Coyote but something more akin to a minion. That said, I was going to improve my chances as much as I could.
“Right behind me,” I replied, jerking my head in Talafraxis’ general direction. “He is big and shiny, but we all know who the most magnificent creature here is.”
The little Coyote bounced on his four paws. “Of course we do!” he agreed. Jumping onto my shoulder, his tail swished against the Loaner Sword before he jumped over the crystal.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
The stats of the Loaner Sword of Coyote are changing. These are the updated values.
Strength: +30
Willpower: +1
<<<>>>
I quickly double checked the Loaner Sword’s description to see that these weren’t additions to the stats, but the new absolute values. Taking a hit to Willpower hurt, but the Strength buff was nice. I was starting to get worried, though; I wondered if Coyote was going to take that or Wisdom into the negatives.
Deciding that I was worrying about it too much, I jumped over the crystal.
Little Coyote was running circles around Talafraxis. Every eye beam chased after him, coming out of whatever point of the boss’ body was closest to the clay animal. “I am too fast!” he howled. “Look at me, fast as the wind!”
Despite the yipping and howling distraction that was Little Coyote, I was noticed immediately. An eye in Talafraxis’ shoulder turned to look at me, beam and all. I held up the Loaner Sword, blocking the damage. It might have been more effective over time, but I wasn’t going to take the chance that the boss had something that might be able to increase its power.
One of his arms came down on me from several feet away. With a higher Strength stat, I ducked out of the way of the eye beam and threw my body into swinging the Loaner Sword. It collided, pushing it far enough off course that it hit the ground behind me, but the effort had strained my entire body.
When I regained my balance, the beam focused on me again. It hit my Shield, causing it to rapidly shimmer after only a few seconds. That was a lot of consistent damage. Talafraxis’ shoulder came at me next, and I prepared to knock it out of the way again.
This move turned out to be the wrong one. Several cracks appeared in the crystalline body part, and it shattered mere inches away from me. I didn’t have time to do anything more than throw up a Force Field in front of my face.
Several shards slammed into me. My feet continued forward as my body was pushed back, and I was on the ground in a moment. Shield couldn’t stand the onslaught, breaking early, and Force Field lasted until the end though it broke, too.
Many of them pierced my chest and stomach, and I felt several of my ribs break or get pushed out of position. Injured but still in my right mind, I attempted to bring them into my inventory. I knew that I couldn’t take items in if they belonged to another player, but right now they were projectiles that were thrown at me by a boss. If the system was favoring me today, they would be considered unattended and unclaimed items.
To my relief, they went right in. Blood flowed, but the Staff of Raphael and my Heavenly Hero passive were already starting to patch me up. The shards that hadn’t hit me and Talafraxis’ arm returned to him, but his shoulder was still splintered. They hovered there, incomplete.
“Somebody’s skipping shoulder day!” Little Coyote gleefully hollered as he ran around. He sounded far away, and I realized I couldn’t see him.
There hadn’t been a response from the boss before, but now he roared in outrage. I quickly returned to my feet and dashed forward, Loaner Sword raised. While Talafraxis was distracted, now was the perfect time to strike. I activated Cheetah Sprint.
Piles of sand were kicked backwards as I doubled my speed. Once again augmenting my strike with Orbit, I went for the leg. Just like before, it came with me thanks to this truly absurd weapon.
The thought of what it could do to a flesh and blood giant’s leg went through my head, but I couldn’t spare the time it deserved.
Talafraxis lashed out at me with his other leg, and I quickly spun around the one I had stolen. The two collided, both crystals cracking from the force, and I got sent flying again. Before I hit the ground, I reached out and tried to pull the whole leg into my inventory. This time, it didn’t work, and I had to assume it was considered the boss’ leg when it wasn’t in pieces.
I twisted in the air and focused on the fight. The Vambrace of Wires ejected its rope towards the stolen leg as it returned to its rightful position, wrapping around it.
Eye beams focused on both the metal rope and on me, and neither of my defensive options had come back online. I grit my teeth, taking the blows as best I could. The wire wrapped around the boss’ knee, taking the fire damage better than I was, and I mentally retracted it.
Bracing the blade with the Staff of Raphael, I shot forward, augmenting my trajectory with Push on both of my weapons. I prepared for impact. The blade sliced clean through, causing Talafraxis to stumble for the first time as I landed on the ground behind him, the rope still attached.
The Lord of Otherside lifted his foot off of the ground just as it began to shake again. I could see a foot or so down, but dirt and soil were a real hindrance to my sight. Kicking off, I rolled out of the way in time to see a bed of crystal spikes rise up from where I had been. Worse, they chased after me.
Talafraxis appeared above me as I evaded the chasing bed of spikes, foot high in the air. He started bringing it down, and I grimaced. Underneath me, I activated Construct, creating a thin psychic barrier between myself and the rising projectiles. In my hand, I swapped out the Staff of Raphael for my bowling ball.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
<<<>>>
[[Item]]
Boss Anthony Franklin’s Golden Bowling Ball
When used as a shield, this bowling ball allows the bearer to block blows as if their Strength were three times higher than it actually is. (Seven-Tenners Blessing)
<<<>>>
My Strength was much higher than usual thanks to the Loaner Sword’s buff, and my arm didn’t even get pushed aside. Unfortunately, my body was still pressed down. The Construct broke in some places, but mostly held. Talafraxis bellowed a laugh and continued to push down on me. I was about to try and squeeze out when a war cry was issued nearby.
“Coyotes! Attack!”
Both of our attention was grabbed by Little Coyote.
But not just Little Coyote. An entire company of Little Coyotes.
The misshapen one I had created led the charge, but the rest were all drawn perfectly. It occurred to me that Little Coyote had been out of my line of sight ever since I reengaged with Talafraxis, and apparently he had been using that time to make clay clones of himself.
Every one of them bayed, yipped, and howled with obvious glee as they leapt through the air. Talafraxis, as big and strong as he was, let the pressure off as he stumbled from the assault. His eye beams swept through the large crowd. There was no escaping it this time, and several of the clay animals were melted to slag.
There were still more of them. I floated off of the spikes only to have the original clay animal land on me. He scrambled onto my shoulder. “Captain Little Coyote, reporting for duty,” he said with a puffed out chest.
“You can use the sword’s skills to make more of yourself?” I asked incredulously as I retreated, getting some distance from Talafraxis. The horde was still taking up the boss’ attention, but I wasn’t about to let them do the work without help. I Lifted two of the larger crystals out of the ground and sent them into the fray like siege weapons.
“I am Coyote! I can do anything!” he announced with a confident laugh. “In fact, we should sing next! That will teach this Talamaholiger guy.”
“Not much of a singer,” I said absentmindedly as I focused on my crystals. The boss shattered the first one, but the second slammed into his shoulder, taking a sharp chunk off.
“If you want, I can sing, then! My voice is wonderful and marvelous, after all,” Little Coyote claimed.
“Sure, go for it.” If he wanted to activate the Sing with the Earth Maker skill for me, I wasn’t going to stop him.
Talafraxis grabbed the missing chunk of his shoulder when I tried to Lift it away, and he threw it at me and Little Coyote. I used Drop, causing it to fall onto the ground before it could make it to us.
<<<>>>
[[Patron Message]]
You may want to pay more attention to the other fight. They’re not surrounded anymore but they need to get some breathing room or you won’t be able to complete your optional objectives.
You know, in about twenty minutes or so when they’re in mortal danger. My time, I mean.
<<<>>>
Turning around, I used the massive piece of shoulder as cover from Talafraxis. The other battlefield was farther than my senses reached, but I could see them just fine. Glaraphel flew around Della, flaming sword constantly in motion as the Tulpas advanced. The Warmind had gotten faster at flinging things around, but there were too many enemies and I could see she was having trouble focusing on which targets should be priorities.
“Allow me to serenade your Patron, this Highest Sister that the little bird over there is so fond of,” Little Coyote said before clearing his throat. Despite not having lungs, he sucked in a big breath. “Arrrre you gonna take me home tonight!”
I reached up and closed his snout with my hand before he could sing more of the song. “No.”
Little Coyote looked at me. “Nomph?”
“No,” I repeated.
Letting him go, I began gathering energy in my mouth. Behind us, I had another crystal join the first. The horde of Little Coyotes had been a great distraction. They had managed to crack Talafraxis’ feet, but that was it.
“Okay, okay. No Fat Bottomed Girls. Okay. I’ve got another that is beloved by new guitar players and cats alike, and one of those is vastly more important than the other,” Little Coyote said. “Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”
Could be worse, I thought to myself as I released my Dragon’s Breath.
The beam of golden energy shot across the sands of Otherside. It pierced through the back half of the Tulpa horde, causing every enemy it hit to disintegrate into thin air. Those remaining continued to charge forward, slicing themselves in half as they followed the last orders given to them. With Talafraxis distracted, the psychic constructs were little more than beasts that were relying on their numbers.
I ended the skill once I had cut down what I thought was an appropriate number. Glaraphel gave me a look and a nod, which I returned. A bright light shone down on me. I glanced upwards as I raised my bowling ball, preparing for an attack.
“What am I doing here?” a dark-skinned man asked as he fell beside me. He wore a pair of pajama pants with no shirt, and had a wild look in his eyes.
“I, Coyote, have brought you the Avatar of the Earth Maker!” Coyote announced with glee. “Avatar, buff this funny man with the strength of stone and iron!”
“Wait, you summoned another Patron’s Avatar?” I asked as the man yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Like, you actually did that? Really?”
“Eh, he is the dream version,” the animal admitted. “He is asleep. This is him dreaming.”
The Earth Maker’s Avatar stretched and looked down at me. “What’s going on?”
“Sorry, man, this is new to me, too,” I admitted.
Little Coyote jumped off of my shoulder and began to circle the newcomer. “Buff the amusing one! Buff him before the Earth Maker finds out I have stolen you! Then you can go back to sleep!”
“Might as well?” I asked, shrugging when he looked at me with tired eyes.
“Yeah, sure, alright,” he mumbled with a half-hearted shrug. “Never cast in my sleep before.”
Raising his hand over my head, he brought it down and I felt a surge of energy through my body. In the next moment, he disappeared.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
You are empowered for a short time.
<<<>>>
“That’s it?” I asked, looking down at Little Coyote. “All that trouble and all I get is that I’m empowered. You know that could mean any number of things, right?”
“Was it real? Or was it just another trick?” the animal cackled. “Only one way to find out! Go, fight!”
I rolled my eyes, but it was time to jump back into the fray. The remaining Little Coyotes could be counted on two hands and Talafraxis was no longer paying them any heed. They had done a number on his feet and he was still somewhat wobbly from where I sliced his leg in half at the knee.
Leaving cover, I sped towards the boss. Despite Cheetah Sprint’s time being up, I was still just as fast.
Talafraxis punched down on me as I approached, and I jumped onto his arm. He was moving in slow motion, it seemed. I might have been going faster than I had when Cheetah Sprint was working. I jumped from his lower arm to his upper and onto his shoulder. His eyes widened in surprise before they glowed.
I pivoted and shot towards the boss’ cross shaped head. Before the eye beams could fire, he disappeared, reappearing some ten feet behind me. Without looking, I threw the Loaner Sword and My Golden Bowling Ball backwards, Pushing them both.
When I activated Shield, the beams were noticeably slower wearing it down. Coyote’s sword embedded itself in Talafraxis’ chest, descending a foot or so into the crystal. The bowling ball was right behind it, hitting the weapon in its pommel and digging it deeper.
The boss’ chest cracked, but didn’t break. I put a Force Field in front of me, landing on it and shooting off towards the enemy. Just like I had done back in the Mall of America, I skated through the air.
I Lifted and Dropped the Loaner Sword repeatedly, trying to make the cracks in the enemy’s body worse. His arm came up from underneath me to intercept, but he ran into the Force Field I was using to move. I dove for his head.
It teleported away again, but I was in a prime position this time. “Blinkback,” I almost sang.
<<<>>>
[[Spell]]
Blinkback
Recall a creature or player who you observed use a Teleport ability, skill, or spell. You must use this within one minute of the effect in order for the Blinkback to succeed Cost: 120 Mental Points.
<<<>>>
Talafraxis reappeared in front of me, his eye beams already going in another direction as if to target me, and I tackled his head. Behind me, I Pushed the Loaner Sword free and Lifted My Golden Bowling Ball up and over the body of the boss.
I fell with the head in both hands, crashing onto the ground. Sadly, the soft sand broke our fall. Two eyes, wide and panicked, struck me in the head with their beams. Shield was more powerful now thanks to Little Coyote’s tricks, and it was holding up. I raised one hand while I kept the head pinned with the other.
“Drink your potions now!” I yelled, hoping my voice would reach Della and Glaraphel.
“Drink potions! Noooooooow!” the remaining clay animals howled.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
You are no longer empowered.
<<<>>>
The Loaner Sword of Coyote came to my hand, and I slashed downwards. It cut into Talafraxis’ crystalline head, but not through. It appeared as though I hadn’t had enough Strength to do that without the buff, but I had made sure to bring a backup.
Both arms of the boss came in from behind me, and I blocked them with the crystals I had been using before my empowered attack. They were shunted aside, and he sent his shoulders after me next, even the one that was only shards.
By then, it was too late.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
The stats of the Loaner Sword of Coyote are changing. These are the updated values.
Strength: -20
Willpower: +201
???: +25
<<<>>>
My eyes went wide as I realized what the notice said, but there was no stopping what was to come.
My Golden Bowling Ball fell from high above us, its speed aided by Drop. It slammed down on one of the Loaner Sword’s back spikes, driving it through the Lord of Otherside’s weird, disembodied head and into the ground.
Sand hit me like shrapnel as a huge plume erupted high into the sky. I was sent flying just like Talafraxis’ arms and shards that had been coming my way. I somehow managed to keep the Loaner Sword in my hand. With some finesse, I was able to right myself and skid to my feet, bleeding heavily from the face though my clothes had absorbed most of the damage to my body.
I looked at the crater the Dropped bowling ball aided by over 300 Willpower had left, relishing the destruction as I Pulled it towards me. The rest of Talafraxis’ body fell to the ground, unmoving, and I let out a breath of relief as I wiped my face.
<<<>>>
[[Victory!]]
You have defeated x347 Tulpas; +2,776 points.
You have contributed in defeating x57 Tulpas; +197 (456) points.
You have defeated the Awakened Scenario Boss [Talafraxis, Lord of Otherside]; +2,500 points.
[[Second Scenario Finished]]
Talafraxis was perfection incarnate, snatched from his home in another dimension and turned into a war machine like none other.
And now he is dead. With the dimensional threat completed before it could come to fruition, a new enemy lurks on the horizon. A hunter like none other.
Sedona is safe. For now. The next one will not be so easy.
Scenario MVP: Anthony Franklin
Reward: 1,800 points, 2,000 points (Scenario Break bonus), Friend Bangle (MVP).
[[Patron Quest Complete!]]
Good show, Anthony! Time is already starting to speed up to normal as Otherside fades. You did a wonderful job, and I’m glad you managed to placate Coyote as well. I would have hated to see what would have happened if he thought this all was boring.
Congratulations are in order. Thanks to my message and your timely assistance, you managed to win both optional rewards. Della is sitting at 92% health after drinking both potions, and Glaraphel at 76% after drinking one, barely making it. Well done.
And, as before, show no one that picture. Wait until you’re a hundred miles away from anyone if you have to. Especially Coyote. This one is… more than the last.
Anyway, you’ll be back to reality soon. You should prepare for that.
Reward: +10,000 points, Holy Aquacutter, +5,000 points (Optional Objective (1)), +5,000 points (Optional Objective (2)), a photo (Optional Objective (1 & 2)).
<<<>>>
Seeing Talafraxis’ head with my aura sight, I retrieved it. I shoved the two pieces into my inventory for later and swapped My Golden Bowling Ball for the Staff of Raphael as I stood up, but I couldn’t store the Loaner Sword of Coyote.
“It’s been fun, amusing one,” Little Coyote said with his friends behind him. “But now, we must go. Until we meet again!”
Before I could say anything, the sword and the clay animals turned to sand, falling to the earth. A part of me was going to miss having such an absurd weapon.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
The Patron [Coyote] agrees and wants to congratulate you on an execution well done.
<<<>>>
“Thanks,” I said, snapping away the message. “This really has been fun.”
“We did it!” Della shouted as she and Glaraphel came running towards me, her arms raised in victory. They both looked very worse for wear, but their spirits were high. She gasped as she saw how injured I was. “Anthony, your face! Are you okay?”
I waved her away when she tried to fuss with my injuries. “Just flesh wounds. It’s already healing, so don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, if you insist,” she said, biting her lip with uncertainty as she looked me over. To her credit, she did drop it. “Did the boss drop what you wanted?”
I glanced towards the inert crystals and saw that there was a skill book and a rosewood red cloth sitting atop Talafraxis’ body. “Looks like it,” I confirmed with a grin, Pulling them both to me and into my inventory.
“You’re not going to put it on now?” she asked when they stopped in front of me.
“Nah, Otherside is rapidly deteriorating. Once we’re back in our own reality, we’ll need to get out of here quick, fast, and in a hurry,” I told her. “Otherwise, we’re going to be accosted by a Dryad. There’s at least one in every national forest. Coconino is no different.”
Della arched an eyebrow. “The nature spirits? Are they known to accost people?”
“Vile vixens,” Glaraphel spat before gesturing towards me. “They will likely not leave this one…”
He stopped talking when I shook my head. From both his and Sara’s reaction to the mere mention of Dryads, I figured Angels did not think kindly of them. Best to cut off any complaints early. I pulled out a door and checked my inventory. After this, I would need to stock back up.
The transition from one reality to another was quick and painless, and I opened the door to show off my Celestial Wormhole back to Sedona.
“Lady, gentleman, let us return to the city and back to our regularly scheduled programming,” I said, following through after them and leaving the forest behind.